Abstract

A needs based simulation curriculum to bridge the Trainee Intern and Postgraduate Year One House Officer Years

Author(s): Ms Dale Sheehan,Dr John Thwaites,Dr Sarah Abbott,Ms Dale Sheehan

Aims: (1) To identify common acutely unwell patient scenarios faced by trainees ‘after hours’. (2) To prioritise the needs of a cohort group of postgraduate year one (PGY1) doctors (3) To utilise PGY1 input into developing a simulation curriculum spanning the undergraduate and postgraduate training years. Methods: A focus group of PGY1 doctors generated acutely unwell patient scenarios likely to be encountered after hours. These were collated into a questionnaire and then ranked by the total PGY1 cohort as to perceived usefulness within a proposed curriculum bridging the transition from senior medical student to first year house officer. From the questionnaire data, a suggested curriculum was designed and refined, then circulated electronically to a random sample of PGY1 house officers to achieve consensus.

Results: The outcome is a ranked list of clinical conditions that could form the basis for a series of scenarios to be taught across the trainee years and as part of any bridging curriculum.

Conclusion: This paper discusses the results of the study and shares the curriculum of simulation scenarios designed with input from PGY1 doctors. While the proposed curriculum is one of a number of possible models, the process used is applicable to other trainee programmes.